Welcome to this body scan for tension relief.
We want your body to feel as comfortable as possible so whether you choose to stay seated or lie down,
Really feel into what will be most supportive for your body.
Throughout our lives we encounter physical,
Mental,
And emotional stress.
This stress can accumulate in our body over the days,
Weeks,
Months,
And sometimes even years that we carry it.
This stress creates tension in our bodies and it's important that we find ways to relieve ourselves of this tension and that's what this body scan is designed to do.
Let this be a moment to fully be with your body,
To honor your body,
And tend to all of the parts of your body that need attention,
That need love,
That need care.
So starting at the top of the head or the crown,
Bringing in soft energy,
Traveling down into the forehead,
Allowing it to soften,
Creating space between the eyebrows,
Moving down into the cheekbones,
Unclenching your jaw,
Allowing all of the muscles in your face to soften,
Allow there to be a space between your teeth,
Removing your tongue from the roof of your mouth,
Making sure that there is spaciousness.
And once you feel all of the muscles of your face soften,
See if you can soften them even a little more,
Seeing just how deeply you can soften,
Seeing how much space you can create.
And once you feel that spaciousness,
You can move down into the neck,
Into the throat,
Noticing the breath traveling up and down through the inhale and the exhale,
Each breath creating more and more space in your throat,
Feeling an opening.
Now bringing your awareness to the back of the neck where it meets your skull,
Making sure that your neck,
If lying down,
Is fully relaxed and allowing the pillow or the surface of whatever you're lying on to fully support you,
Releasing any work that the neck is doing.
And if you are in a seated position,
Making sure that your chin is parallel with the floor,
Making sure that your posture is supporting your neck so that it's not doing any more work than it needs to,
Letting your head rest comfortably on your neck.
As you release any areas of tension that you're noticing,
Breathing into the back of your neck,
Allowing the exhale to create spaciousness there.
And now moving down to each side of the neck,
Starting with the left,
Again allowing the breath to create softness,
Feeling your muscles relax with each breath,
Feeling a sense of ease.
Now moving to the right side of the neck and doing the same,
Breathing in and out slowly,
Consciously creating space.
And once your entire neck feels this level of relaxation,
See if it can go even deeper,
Even more relaxed.
And as you feel that relaxation,
Let it move down into your shoulders,
Noticing any areas where you feel pain or tension and giving it love through the breath,
Allowing that ease to enter your body,
Feeling gratitude towards your body for all that it allows you to do.
Now moving back into the shoulder blades,
Allowing them to rest fully as your breath eases any tension you're holding on to there.
Traveling all the way down the spine,
All the way down your back,
Allowing it to feel supported in whatever position that you're in,
Sending love to each area of the body that needs it with your breath.
Now coming back up to the shoulders,
Seeing if that same level of ease and relaxation has been maintained or if it has went back to its usual state.
The body remembers and we are training it to get used to this new level of ease,
So it may take repetition to remember this new baseline.
Since this is an area that tends to store a lot of tension,
Let's again breathe into it,
Creating that space,
That ease,
Relaxing each and every muscle.
And once it feels relaxed,
See if you can relax it just a little bit more.
And as you do so,
Bring that ease down into your arms,
Down into your elbows,
Down into your forearms,
Breathing in and out,
Creating that spaciousness,
Allowing it to enter your wrists,
To enter your hands,
And all of the joints in your fingers.
Feeling every area of your arms and your hands relax,
Releasing any and all tension stored there.
Now bringing your awareness back up into your chest and again if you are seated,
Paying attention to your posture,
Making sure that your shoulders aren't hunched forward,
Forming a cage around your heart.
You want to make sure that your shoulders are back,
That your heart is open,
And if you're lying down,
Allow yourself to be fully supported by the surface beneath you,
Feeling that openness in your chest and in your heart.
Taking a few deep conscious breaths into the heart space,
Breathing in and out deeply,
Again allowing that softness and ease to permeate within and around the heart,
Within and around your chest,
Allowing it to feel calm,
Allowing any tension and stress to release.
With each breath,
Feeling it release more and more,
And now allowing that same beautiful energy to travel down your torso into the stomach,
Feeling it rise and fall with each breath,
Not sucking in but allowing your stomach to be in its natural position,
Allowing it to expand and contract with the rhythm of your breath,
Allowing your stomach to be soft.
Now feeling that same softness in your hips,
Traveling down into your thighs,
Into your knees,
Giving extra love to your knee joints.
Just like your shoulders,
This is another area that takes on a lot of stress,
A lot of physical stress,
So spend some extra time here breathing into the knees,
Feeling them soften,
Extending gratitude for all that they do for you,
Introducing a sense of ease and allowing that ease to travel down into the calves,
Into the shins,
Feeling your legs fully relax,
Fully soften,
Feeling that energy flowing freely throughout them,
Feeling it move down into the ankle joint and into the feet.
Perhaps you want to wiggle your toes to extend it there.
Now noticing how this energy is flowing freely through your body,
How this new softness and ease is flowing through your body,
Feeling it as a whole,
Feeling relaxed.
And just as you feel relaxed,
See if you can feel into that just a little bit more,
Noticing if there are still areas of tension,
Still areas that feel like they're holding stress,
Areas that feel contracted.
Breathe into them,
Allow them to expand with softness,
With each breath bringing in more ease.
This is how you build your body awareness and in allowing ourselves to feel our bodies fully,
We create a channel for these areas of tension to release that tension.
When we go about our daily lives ignoring our bodies,
We don't give them that channel to release.
We continue to hold,
We continue to have that contraction in those areas of our body without that outlet.
So take a moment of gratitude for yourself for making space for this practice,
Knowing that you are taking care of your body,
Knowing that you are doing what is necessary to relieve yourself of stress and tension.
Each time you do this practice you are retraining your body,
You're reprogramming it to feel more at ease,
More relaxed,
More cared for.
So thank you for taking this time for yourself,
For taking this time with me.
May you continue to feel this level of ease in the days to come.
